In vehicles having a seat assembly positioned forward of a rear seat assembly, a head of a rear occupant of the rear seat assembly is exposed to a higher change of contacting the front seat assembly in a frontal collision. During a frontal collision, the knees of the rear occupant initially contact a rear surface of a seat back of the front seat assembly. However, previously known front seat assemblies do not provide for a controlled forward pivoting of a seat back to absorb energy transferred to the seat back due to the contact of the knees of the rear occupant to increasing a distance between the head of the rear occupant during a frontal collision.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative seat assemblies that absorb energy from the contact of the rear occupant to increase a distance between the head of the rear occupant so as to reduce the occurrence of the head of the rear occupant from contacting the front seat assembly.